Re: The first Robert Abernathy to America

From Public Records Office- Chancery Lane- From List of Scots Taken Prisoner:

At the Battle of Worcestor (Eng) Sept. 15, 1651 Robert Abernethy, age 19- (Born 1632) son of George Abernethy de Barrie.He held the rank of Captain and served under General Leslie from Banff, one of his kinsmen.Given a choice of the Tower of London, or as an agricultural servant to the colonies in America, he chose to go as a prisoner of war and was deported October 1651 to Virginia.

(copied by Frances Jones Kimayer from above records in London, October 1975)

Source:The Robert Abernethy Family by Arvord M. Abernethy of Hamilton, TX. Pg. 57

Following from Giles County (TN) Legacy by Margaret Butler (1991)

Pg. 16

The first Abernathy in America, to whom the Abernathy's in Giles County can be traced, was Robert Abernathy, a Scotsman who arrived in Virginia in 1652.No information as to his background is available, but the date and circumstances of his coming are significant.In the English Civil War between the Crown and Cromwell, the Scots agreed to support "Bonnie Prince Charley" on condition that he sanction their Presbyterian establishment.The Abernathys were a sect of the Leslie Clan and followed General Leslie into battle. They were soundly defeated in the battles of Dunbar, September 3, 1650 and Worcester, September 1651.Prisoners taken in these battles, by order of Cromwell, were divided into three classes:the common soldiers, who were paroled and permitted to return to their homes; Highlanders, captains, field officers, as well as members of the landed gentry who were sent to the Tower; and non-commissioned officers and officers below the rank of captain,who were transported to the colonies as prisoners of war and sold as indentured servants. Since at this time, Scotland was a separate kingdom and it's people did not have the privileges of English subjects, it was not legal for them to migrate to the colonies.So, the only method of entry for a Scotsman would have been as a prisoner of war.This would seem to indicate that Robert Abernathy of Scotland, who arrived in Virginia in 1652, cmae as a prisoner.Virginia records show that he was sold as an indentured servant, that five years later, he was a free man, that he had a wife, Sara Cubishe(Cubigge), that he owned land on Poplar Run in Prince George County, that he served on juries and had credit.